EIB loan to help Turkey's Marmaray Project

Turkey’s Treasury and European Investment Bank sign a loan agreement to the tune of €200 million

ANKARA – The European Investment Bank has agreed to loan 200 million euros to Turkey's Treasury to spend on the Marmaray Project, it was announced on Thursday.

Turkey's Treasury said the loan would be used to meet the additional financing requirements of the project, which is to connect Asia and Europe with an uninterrupted railway network under the Istanbul strait.

Its first leg was launched by the president and the prime minister on October 29 last year, the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Turkey.

The Marmaray Project is called “the Project of the Century” by Turkish officials and introduces many firsts in the world in terms of innovation.

The 13.6-kilometer-long tunnel, built 60 meters below the sea level, reduces travel between Asian and European sides to 4 minutes.

Ottoman Sultan Abdulmajid was the first to float the idea of a railway tunnel underneath the Bosphorus Strait in 1860.

The rest of the Marmaray tunnel will be opened by 2015, which will have the capacity to carry 75,000 people per hour in either direction.